


Icarus Falls

by HimeBeat



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Fluff, Freeform, Happy birthday one direction, Hotel Rooms, I wrote this centuries ago, Liam and Zayn are still besties change my mind, M/M, Might as well post it, Secret Relationship, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25470940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HimeBeat/pseuds/HimeBeat
Summary: Liam and Zayn have a little rendezvous around the holiday season, and do what they do best when together: be.
Relationships: Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Kudos: 19





	Icarus Falls

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this around Christmas of last year? When Liam was in Africa for the holidays? (was that maybe two years ago already? OH WOW) 
> 
> Anyways, it's the anniversary today and it's been sitting on my pages forever, might as well put it out into the world. Nothing grand, just some fluffy slice of life.

It had become complicated, it had _always_ been complicated. But lately the weight of their lives, of actual commitments, age, decisions, it was all pressing them harder and harder, pushing them to stop.

As if it was that easy.

As if one could just let go of eight years of… whatever it was they had. A connection, as if one could just let go of a bond established nearly a decade ago.

“where to, next week?” He asked, as he lit up a cigarette. Artistically, as everything he did.

Delicate.

“I’m thinking Ghana, for the New Year”

“Sounds fun”

“Should be, some of the LA people will be down, we’ll just hang…”

Zayn replied with a noncommittal sound. Closing his eyes and enjoying the nicotine kicking into his system.

“Want one, babe?” He asked, out of politeness, really, already knowing the answer.

“You know I quit”

“You can quit again tomorrow”

Liam laughed, shaking his head. He was aimlessly wandering around the hotel room, ever the restless, making Zayn feel antsy with all his movement.

It had always been like that, since the beginning, back when it wouldn’t go beyond experimental kisses in the back of the tourbus, cuddling when either one of them felt lonely in their too large hotel room, they’d fool around for a while and, eventually, Liam would give him one last kiss, and get up to do something, or nothing, just shifting the scene, ending whatever moment they’d been sharing.

Zayn came to interpret it as Liam’s way of separating whatever they had from reality, as if they existed in a literal bubble, that he could burst with simply getting out of the bed, that he could return to just as easily by slipping back into the sheets, back into his lover’s arms.

It had been a while now since everything had been simple. It had been a while since they’d had the chance to meet like this. How long, exactly?

“New York, like three months ago?” Replied Liam, to the question Zayn didn’t even notice he made out-loud.

“Been a minute” he said, to fill the required space.

“Mm, well, you know, life” Lame, Liam. But Zayn smiled sweetly at him nonetheless.

“Come back here, then, we don’t know when the next time might arise”

“Or if it will at all”

It wasn’t bittersweet, not anymore, it wasn’t even… wasn’t even a crave, or a desire, or something primal in them, it was just, it was _comforting,_ they fit well together, it was enjoyable, _good, fun._ easy. It wasn’t simple, but it had always been easy to just let go with each other. There was a level of trust, of intimacy they didn’t have to work for, it happened naturally.

Even though they weren’t their careless teenage versions anymore, perhaps _precisely because_ they weren’t their careless teenage versions anymore, this (whatever this was) had become more of a pleasurable thing to fall into whenever they had a chance, it was a way to reminisce and create new memories at the same time.

There were no promises, there were no lies (to everyone else, maybe, but not to each other, no point in it). There were no tears or resentment for their realities, for their mistakes or choices in the past. Everything that happened on their daily lives, none of it made it past the door.

One day, soon enough, they wouldn’t be able to sustain it anymore. One day, soon enough, either one of them would settle down for good - Liam almost had, for a while, and even then they’d met a handful of times - one day, soon enough, something from the outside would follow them into whatever hotel room they happened to be, in whatever country they’d managed to coincide, and it would unleash a tornado strong enough to shake to the core, to actually hurt them, let the pain of all the unsaid words, hidden behind heated kisses, finally break loose.

Zayn knew that day was nearing, and he knew Liam could feel it, too. That’s why they were speaking less and less every time they met, kissing more and more, jumping in and out the bubble more carefully each time.

Just a matter of time.

But not quite _this time._ Thought Zayn, as he closed his eyes in pleasure at the feeling of Liam’s wandering hands below his waist. And, before he stopped thinking altogether, he contemplated that for it to be a last time like that, there would haveto be a _next time._

 _That_ could never come soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy anniversary to our boys, and to this fandom. to the greatest team 🥂


End file.
